A corporate wellness initiative between UpRight and Ernst & Young Israel studied the correlation between posture and workplace productivity.

The case study included studying office workers at E & Y’s Israel office through the application of the UpRight wearable and training them to be more aware of how they sit during long hours.

“The reality is that most business men and women spend eight to twelve hours a day sitting slouched over at their desks, which leads to back pain, decreased productivity, poor health and missed work days,” said Oded Cohen, UpRight CEO.

During the weeks-long experiment, 31 employees were coached on healthy posture habits and surveyed about their personal experiences with back pain and productivity.

Participants trained two to four times a week for six weeks with assistance from the UpRight mobile app and wearable. The device attached to the upper or lower back and utilized advanced sensors to notify the user when he/she was slouching.

Results showed 75 percent of those participants experienced improved posture, decreased back pain and felt more productive at work.

Additional findings from the initiative include:

85 percent of participants became more aware of their posture;

71 percent of participants felt more confident when they had good posture;

66 percent of participants experienced the strengthening of core muscles and

50 percent of participants reported a difference in their posture in one to six sessions.

Back pain costs U.S. employers $7 billion per year in lost work days and productivity, and existing problems contribute to 70 percent of those costs.